Wii U’s restrictive DRM is a baffling throwback

Op-Ed: It's time for the Big N to catch up to other digital delivery companies.

The new Nintendo Network ID system that debuted on the Wii U is a sign of progress for a company that has, historically, not shown a lot of savvy in setting up its online systems. The Wii U lets users connect up to 12 separate Nintendo Network IDs to a single system and use those IDs to easily connect with online friends and strangers. The new Wii U eShop includes many retail games for download on the same day they reach stores, and does away with the "Wii Points" virtual currency that characterized Nintendo's previous console. The company has even promised to roll out a cloud save feature sometime next year.

Given all of these improvements, it's a bit baffling that Nintendo is still caught in the past when it comes to the extremely limiting digital rights management system that ties downloaded game and content purchases to a single console.

Tying downloaded games to a single system means there's no way for a user to access those games at a friend's house short of lugging the entire system along (yes, the Wii is a lot smaller and lighter than other contemporary systems, but still...). It also means a game downloaded to the Wii U in the living room won't be playable on a second system in the kids' room, even if the same password-protected Nintendo Network ID was used on both systems.

It also means that if your system breaks down, you can't just go buy a new one (or borrow one from a friend) and immediately recover your content using your account. Instead, you have to go through Nintendo's official repair process, waiting up to two weeks for the system to be returned just to maintain the system-locked license data—a caveat I learned about first hand recently. And in the extreme case your Wii U is stolen, it seems there's no way to recover your purchased games (Nintendo has refused numerous requests for comment on its DRM scheme). Sure, you can back up purchases to a USB hard drive, but thanks to this licensing scheme, those backups are no more portable than the actual bits stored on the Wii U's internal storage.

This DRM scheme was already retrograde when Nintendo was still getting its online feet wet with the Wii, but it's really backward in late 2012, when every other major game platform has figured out ways to protect downloaded content while also making it accessible across devices. Microsoft allows downloaded Xbox 360 games to be played on secondary systems as long as you're actively logged in with your Gamertag, and it allows users to transfer an entire library to a new system using a "Gamertag recovery" feature. Sony only lets you download purchased content onto two systems at a time (disappointingly down from a limit of five before last November) but at least the company lets you use an online deactivation tool to remove a broken or lost system from that count. Most games on Steam can be downloaded and installed on any number of machines using the same Steam account, and iOS and Android apps can be easily synced across multiple devices with an online account.

I understand that Nintendo is worried about piracy, but its not like Microsoft, Sony, Valve, Apple and Google aren't. Yet those companies have all found their own ways to balance protection for their online stores with the ability for users to access that content in their own way.

Nintendo can still follow their lead—it would be trivial to push out an online system update that removed the one-system-per-download limit for the Wii U eShop (while we're at it, they could do the same thing for the 3DS). I doubt letting the same Nintendo Network ID play games on a handful of systems is going to lead to Wii U account sharing rings to split purchase costs. Opening legitimate purchases up for more than one console will also have absolutely no effect on the determined hackers that are already trying to open the system up to homebrew and pirated software.

What it would do is make the process of downloading games more attractive and easier to use to the benefit of both users and sales for Nintendo's newly expanded eShop. It's well past time for Nintendo to catch up to the competition in this regard.

Promoted Comments

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

776 posts | registered Jul 7, 2001

Kyle Orland
Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area. Emailkyle.orland@arstechnica.com//Twitter@KyleOrl

101 Reader Comments

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

Seeing as how Steam has managed to get around that, I don't buy this 'What about the children under 12!" in the slightest. It's very simple to have someone set up an account and then SUB-accounts for children in their home.

Really, I'll be honest: That law mentioned needs to go bye-bye. It puts too many limitations on business (hell, that is something that as an extreme liberal I never thought I would say) and too little responsibility on parents to DO THEIR JOB and monitor what their children are doing online.

I doubt letting the same Nintendo Network ID play games on a handful of systems is going to lead to Wii U account sharing rings to split purchase costs.

"Look at this user PirateBay, playing on 106,000 systems at the same time!"

So long as users are willing to put up with always-on connections, Nintendo should be able to permit a handful of installs with one simultaneous use.

Actually, they should allow as many usages as a person wants as long as the person proves that they own the device in question. I.E. if you did IP tracking and saw a bunch of attempted installs from Russia when the guy in question has put down that he lives in Maryland, U.S.A.? You should block those Russian installs.

Hasney wrote:

Want to know something crazier? In Europe, we can't buy 18 rated content until after 11pm and before 3am.

Tested this myself. It is insane that I, as an adult, cannot buy any game I like. I can deal with the DRM issues, Nintendo have been good to me over the phone, even when I sold my 3DS they restored my content on a new one. Yeah, it can be a hassle, but it works. This step is just plain weird.

The sad thing is that bullplop like this does not protect children in the slightest. They can just have a friend over 18 or relative over 18 buy the 'horrendous' game in question and still play it.

No, this bullshit about 'protecting' children from things that they are already interested in, by them wanting the game in question, needs to stop.

Yes, I do mean allow them to buy ANY game they want, sexual content or not, and move on. 99% of the time, the parents are still the ones paying for the game so they can do a little 'parental supervision' and tell the child 'No!" if they don't want them to buy something like Resident Evil 6.

The world should NOT be 'friendly to children' (a bullshit thing put out by radical conservatives mostly) to the point where it inconveniences adults.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

Really a non-issue. It's not like the average user age for nintendo is really that much lower than the other systems that children are the stumbling block. I'd argue that children shouldn't be buying games without their parents permission anyways.

Nintendo refusing to pull their head out of the sand and see what everyone else is doing is very typical japanese behavior, and they're probably just being too stubborn to go with what obviously works.

This really is retrograde, backwards thinking. It's been shown time and time again that rule #1 of fighting piracy is that the DRM needs to make it easy for paying customers. That includes recovery if the hardware breaks, is stolen, or even if you happen to be at a friends place for the weekend and want to play one of your games. As soon as it gets in the way of your paying customers, it's a failure.

Virtually everybody else has figured this out. Nintendo has not.

I also don't buy the idea that they're stuck because software is complicated. This is a new platform, and the Wii's failures in this area were all well known years ago. They could have done it right this time and didn't. It's just Nintendo being Nintendo and refusing to learn anything from the rest of the industry (much like how the Wii's online experience was a total joke).

I think that both Apple with iTunes and Valve with Steam are handling all those DRM issues correctly and actually with the fair approach they make you want to spend money.

Personally I feel Valve DRM management are a pain-iTA and awful.

I happen to have to share my mac desktop with others, and have set up multiples accounts, but Steam default install puts software in a User specific path and it isn't by cluenessness, but by design (they went from putting the apps in the user's document folder to the user's Library/Application Support which isn't still where they should be).

So any software you buy trough Steam can only be used with the user account that bought it, with the Steam app running. (and they are bloody incapable to this day to deactivate Exposé mouse shortcuts when their own source-engine games are running... Thank the GodS for AppleScript!)

At least when you buy stuff from Apple's Mac App Store they go directly in the Application folder so they can be used with any account.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

require a network ID be tied to a credit card to enable system transfer functionality. this way the only new info collected is only (should only be) available to adults.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

I don't even understand why you would bring this up as an issue. Every gaming console should require the consent of a responsible adult. I can't believe that Nintendo would be willing to aim their purchased content at children without the consent of an adult. As well, Nintendo is not the only distributor selling content, what do you make of all the other systems that require an individual over the age of 18 to be responsible for purchases?

I think that both Apple with iTunes and Valve with Steam are handling all those DRM issues correctly and actually with the fair approach they make you want to spend money.

Personally I feel Valve DRM management are a pain-iTA and awful.

I happen to have to share my mac desktop with others, and have set up multiples accounts, but Steam default install puts software in a User specific path and it isn't by cluenessness, but by design (they went from putting the apps in the user's document folder to the user's Library/Application Support which isn't still where they should be).

So any software you buy trough Steam can only be used with the user account that bought it, with the Steam app running. (and they are bloody incapable to this day to deactivate Exposé mouse shortcuts when their own source-engine games are running... Thank the GodS for AppleScript!)

At least when you buy stuff from Apple's Mac App Store they go directly in the Application folder so they can be used with any account.

Have you read Steam's DRM licensing, it is not different that Microsoft's licensing for the xbox. With the Xbox most content requires the user who purchased the game to be logged in if any other gamertag wishes to play the game on the same console. Steam isn't much different than that.

Also I don't know how much different Mac installations are from Windows, but with Windows you can install Steam to any particular location and it installs the software into its own apps folder underneath that installation directory.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

I'm just shooting from the hip here but... require parents to do so, just like every other console in existence? I mean come on. It's not that hard to work this one out. Is it?

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

You bring up valid points; however, this logic/argument of "Oh, you want to criticize Subject X? Well then you would you fix it smart guy?" is fundamentally flawed.

Every time someone wants to criticize something, does that mean they first have to be an expert on the subject and know a better way to do it? Are we not allowed to criticize a president/elected official unless we are fully capable of being a better president? That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship.

I would go out on a limb and say while most readers and commenters here are very tech savvy, probably very few have experience designing and implementing DRM schemes with a brand new gaming console. I appreciate how difficult it is for Nintendo to do what they're trying to do.. there is no lack in understanding of the complexity of DRM. That said, there are some huge problems with the way Nintendo is doing it, and this article brings up some excellent points. I haven't read a single comment that says "I'm an expert on DRM, and Nintendo sucks!".. what I've read is people being dissatisfied with the user experience that Nintendo's protection offers. That's all.

Aye, i'm not buying the 'think of the children!' BS. They need to realise (along with everyone else on the planet), that restrictions for children are unenforceable and a carefully worded ToS should be able to absolve them of all responsibility when little Timmy racks up a $300 bill on Mommy's credit card.

"You can only deactivate your PlayStation®3 system from PlayStation®Network using your PS3™ system. You cannot deactivate it using a PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system or PC."

So yeah, doesn't work.

I believe that gives you your answer, but anyhow go to PlayStation Home, look at downloaded content and I believe if you click in to the software in question, it lists what systems it is installed to and you can easily remove the system that is no longer in question.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

The minor would still need a credit card.

No, they don't. You can easily buy an eShop card at your local gaming store, big box, or supermarket with CASH.

First off - there's a LOT of legal problems asking information from a minor. Even an email address. So Nintendo's system doesn't require an account to download anything. You can go into the shop from a brand new console and download stuff without having to create an account. So there's practically no identifying information Nintendo stores.

So every user and buyer is anonymous - how do you protect the content so one anonymous user doesn't share their stuff with another anonymous user?

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Of course, perhaps if they let you use your Club Nintendo account to store your store purchases, but then again, it runs afoul of laws since the account was created for one purpose and used for another.

Or perhaps the old system could display a user ID and password used to register it with another system and both must use the same IP to be successfully shared?

How would you design it? Remember, you must take into account what you can ask from children under 12 who may be using the system, various privacy laws on what you can do with information from children, and allow the DRM system to be loosened?

I don't get it. As a parent, I have no problem taking 10 min to create a account for my kids. If the kids going to purchase the game from the store. They already going to ask for my credit card anyway. How much time does it really take for parents to create an account to protect their purchase or their kids from broken the console? If parent can't or don't want to setup a simple account for their kid, they shouldn't be buying the gaming console then.

This is why, outside of a few freebies I got by using loyalty points, the Virtual Console has been a non-starter for me. The stupid thing is that the Virtual Console is already in competition with easy-to-use emulators that were around way before it was even thought of. Every time they can convince someone to pay them $8 for a ROM of a 20 year old game, they should be thanking their lucky stars. The last thing they should be doing is making it MORE difficult to be a paying customer than it is to be a pirate.

Not wanting to share your personal information is NOT just about children and what they can legally do. Have you people really been so isolated that you have not met an ADULT who for any number of reasons does not want to share their personal information with any corporation? Some people DON'T want our corporate overlords knowing every little thing about us.

Now, that type of personal privacy seems to be in the minority as people flock to FaceBook and Twitter to tell CocaCola how, when, and where their advertising will find the largest market. That still doesn't exclude those individuals who refuse from buying a Wii U. You are free to share as much or as little about yourself as you would like, and are still able to fully utilize your console.

It sure would be convenient if Best Buy had my mailing adress, Credit Card, bank account information, and my mother's maiden name all associated with my finger prints so I don't have to carry around my wallet either. Doesn't mean I'm going to give them any of that information. Some things are worth some extra hassel, and PERSONAL PRIVACY is one of them.

"You can only deactivate your PlayStation®3 system from PlayStation®Network using your PS3™ system. You cannot deactivate it using a PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system or PC."

So yeah, doesn't work.

Yes, it doesn't work. I know first hand because I had a PS3 break and had to transfer all my games to a new one. I called up their tech support and they were able to make a "one time exception" to restore access to my games. I had downloaded one purchased movie to the system as well, but they could not help me there, so I essentially "lost" that purchase. Amazingly I refuse to purchase video content on PS3 now. Who'd have thunk it?

I normally don't buy DRM'd content over $10 or so...but since VC console games were typically $5 or less, I was OK with it.

But when it became clear that they were not transferable or recoverable without begging Nintendo for help, and I found I could not play them on another Wii (we had two Wiis for a while), I stopped buying them all together. I figure I've got about $100 to $150 in VC games on my original launch Wii.

Instead, I installed the Homebrew channel to run emulators. It's the ONLY thing I use the HBC for. I can back up my SD card and use it on any other hacked Wii, or for that matter, a lot of saves transfer to PC emulators.

Good job, Nintendo. As usual, DRM makes the legitimate experience worse than doing it the copyright infringement / free way.

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Funny, MS manages just fine with Xbox Live.

I would argue that. There are a lot of parents who bring an Xbox home, give it to their 14-year-old and forget about it. Said 14-year-old then makes an account with his real birthdate, realizes it needs parental approval, then re-rolls with a fake birthdate to appear 18. After the free month is done, he asks his parents for a credit card for Xbox Live Gold. Parent obliges. Six months later, kid buys a $40 game, and parent goes apeshit wanting a refund, wondering how Microsoft allows kids to buy things without parental approval.

Yes, Microsoft has a great system. But, as tlhIngan mentioned, often parents simply ignore it.

Is Nintendo like Sony/Valve/Microsoft? I'm not so certain. It seems that the Wii more-or-less was the de-facto local multiplayer game console of the current gen. I have a 3DS. Many of those games have multiplayer but most require each person to have purchased a cartridge/eshop copy of the game - there are some titles that spawn sessions for local players without a cartridge. Nintendo's stellar sales figures for software are partially rooted in these decisions. It seems that Nintendo is extending it's multiplayer policy of "each person must have the software" to the Wii U. Nintendo has never allowed it's software on more than one system at a time. They do have a system transfer feature, with a limit of 5 transfers. If your device is stolen, you may as well factor that the thief made off with all your "cartridges" that have been purchased on the system. That's the way Nintendo has always operated. Securing your property is your responsibility, not Nintendo's.

Ordinarily, I'm opposed to restrictive DRM.This is not such a thing. Your scenario where you have two WiiU consoles in the same house is nearly absurd. Who in the world is going to purchase two Wii U?

I have had a Wii since it launched. When I bought a Wii U, I moved the Wii up to my bedroom. I can move the VC/WiiWare games from the Wii to the Wii U but now I can't play them on the Wii. That's stupid.

Apple gets this right, tie the apps to the Apple ID. I can use any device with my apps. An Apple ID can also be totally anonymous, using gift cards for payment.

Now this does allow people to download apps on other devices (each iOS device can have apps purchased by up to 5 different accounts), so they could see that as a bad thing, but one has to wonder how much their current policy is costing them in lost sales and support.

I suppose you could require a parent to set it up to create an account in their name and all that, but that's practically a non-starter (harried parent brings it home, gets it connected and wants to get back with their day).

Funny, MS manages just fine with Xbox Live.

I would argue that. There are a lot of parents who bring an Xbox home, give it to their 14-year-old and forget about it. Said 14-year-old then makes an account with his real birthdate, realizes it needs parental approval, then re-rolls with a fake birthdate to appear 18. After the free month is done, he asks his parents for a credit card for Xbox Live Gold. Parent obliges. Six months later, kid buys a $40 game, and parent goes apeshit wanting a refund, wondering how Microsoft allows kids to buy things without parental approval.

Yes, Microsoft has a great system. But, as tlhIngan mentioned, often parents simply ignore it.

Does Microsoft require a credit card to be on-record with them before allowing Live points to be added/spent? I didn't think it did.

As contrasted with Amazon which does require a card to be on record for Kindle purchases, even if you're 'buying' a free app or spending a credit balance from a gift card.

On a recent episode of the Giant Bombcast they were discussing the fact that USB storage devices like hard drives and flash cards that are formatted for use with a WiiU are tied to only that specific WiiU. So let's say you want to keep save game files on a USB flash drive to take with you over to a friend's house. When you plug it in on their WiiU, the device won't be recognized. Or imagine that your WiiU breaks and needs to be replaced. Your backup of downloaded content and saved games will be useless on your new system!

Until this is resolved, I won't even begin to think about buying a WiiU.

The odd thing is that while Nintendo alienizes paying customers, their systems allow for the easiest piracy.

delebre wrote:

Considering how raped the Wii got with all the hacking.. I really don't blame them. I'm not saying their system is perfect, but I understand their willingness to protect it where they can. That said, I know I will be getting games on disc over downloadable e-content.

I reckon some similarities to the PS3 - which didn't get hacked until they removed Other-OS.

Whereas Nintendo's Wii had USB ports and allowed you to plug in things like Harddrives etc - they never provided a system to load your owned games onto such a harddrive. In addition there are a slew of games (with online components) that lock down your savefiles - and on top of that many of those games have limit how many saves/or amount of space you can use.

Now imagine if instead Nintendo had provided a system to load your DVD/Games onto such a harddrive, and didn't prevent you from backing up your saves. And/or had provided a Homebrew type channel from the getgo (that Nintendo could control). The massive piracy on the Wii and buying Wii's on CraigsList that come with hundreds of games on harddrives would of been much much less likely as the system would be technically open with some restrictions - e.g. Needing the game disc in the DVD when you play a game from the Harddrive.

So those of you saying hey Nintendo needs to do this to protect themselves and 3rd party devs are pretty far off the mark. With a system that is user-friendly and "controlled-hackable" everyone winds up with the best of both worlds. Nintendo keeps control of the system (as much as they can), piracy is limited and diminished and the gaming experience is improved. All without screwing over ppl that would consider buying digital distribution games.

The article makes good sense, but as a Wii and Wii U owner I personally don't have a problem with Nintendo's approach. It has had no negative impact on me or my gaming habits.

I transferred all my Wii VC games over without a problem, and can play ZombiU without a disc since i bought it from the eShop. As a regular consumer, everything seems fine to me. I don't intend to buy another Wii U and if my old one broke or was stolen, I'm quietly confident Nintendo would help me transfer what I bought. Their customer service is excellent.

Much ado about nothing, or at least about something that will only affect a relatively small percentage of users.

Don't get me wrong I love Steam and use it a lot, but how often do I move all my content to another PC? Rarely if ever.

I have Steam set up across my main PC, my HTPC, and my laptop with many games shared across all 3.

I frequently use XBLA games I purchased myself on my brother's Xbox when I visit.

I have Amazon MP3's spread across a variety of wireless devices.

If you are not inconvenienced by the absence of Nintendo's constant insistence of being the most backwards player in the gaming field, that's because you have no idea of what you are missing (because you are stuck in the Nintendo's circa 2001 ecosystem?).

I especially like how the editor comment suggests the Nintendo is primarily a system for pre-adolescents.